Rubus laciniatus is a deciduous, bramble-forming shrub growing to 3 meters (10 feet) tall, with prickly shoots.

The leaves are palmately compound, with five leaflets, each divided into deeply toothed subleaflets with jagged, thorny tips.

Fruits are similar to the common blackberry, with a unique, fruitier flavour.

[2] The fruits of this plant are eagerly consumed by a number of animal species, including many birds and mammals.

[2][3] It is an introduced species in Australia and North America, and has become a weed and invasive species in forested habitats in the United States and Canada, particularly in the Northeast and along the Pacific Coast, as well as in Australia.